June 15, 2025 • 26 mins
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Denella Ri'chard.
An award-winning travel expert, TV host, and former senior executive in the travel industry. The discussion focused on the transformative power of travel, breaking cultural barriers, and her journey from corporate leadership to entrepreneurship.
🔑 Key Themes & Highlights
The Importance of Travel
- Travel helps break down cultural barriers and expand perspectives.
- Experiencing different cultures makes people more open-minded and adaptable.
Overcoming Stereotypes as a Black Traveler
- Ri'chard shared experiences of racial stereotypes while traveling, including perceptions about Black Americans abroad.
- She emphasized the importance of representation in the travel industry.
Her Journey from Corporate Executive to TV Host
- Ri'chard held senior positions at Hilton Worldwide, Carnival Corporation, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
- The COVID-19 pandemic led to her unexpected career shift, launching her travel show.
Creating Traveling with Denella Ri'chard
- The show provides insider travel tips, destination guides, and cultural insights.
- Ri'chard helps viewers plan trips with confidence by scouting locations firsthand.
Entrepreneurship & Reinvention
- Losing her corporate job during COVID-19 pushed her to pursue her dream of hosting a travel show.
- She encourages others to embrace change and take risks in their careers.
📘 About Denella Ri'chard
Denella Ri'chard is the host and executive producer of the award-winning travel show Traveling with Denella Ri'chard. She has been recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential People in USA Hospitality and Travel.
Her show airs in over 40 cities and explores luxurious resorts, cruises, and cultural experiences worldwide. #AMI
#STRAW
#BEST
#SHMS
For more insights, check out her interview here or learn more about her work here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Hello, Hello, this is Rashan mcdonalk. I say hello
one more time. I am here our host this weekly
Money Making Conversation masterclass show. The interviews and information that
this show provides are for everyone. As I tell you
every week, it's time to stop reading other people's success
stories and start living your own. I'm here to help
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(00:23):
to my interviews, Listen to the tips I try to
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(00:45):
information that's I feel fit to the show, and I
bring you on the show. It's a guest. It's just
that easy. My guest is ready to come on the show.
It is a well known traveler, travel expert and industry
leader and host the award winning travel show Travel with Danella.
She has held senior positions at major travel companies including
Hilton Worldwide, Carnival Corporation, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. Originally
(01:11):
from South Louisiana, she describes describes herself as travel enthusiasts
all this wildlife wine lover. Her mission is to inspire
people to travel, experience different cultures, and embrace our shared humanity. Please,
welcome to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Danella, Rashad. How
you doing, Danella?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I am wonderful.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Rashaan, Hello, Hello, Hello, I got all that senior level
positions at major Why why why should somebody I'm as
you off the pro Why should somebody travel? What is
the what are the benefits of traveling?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
My god? The number one benefit to travel is breaking
down cultural barriers. You know, just get it out of
the same old, same old, Because when you get out
and you start to travel, and whether you're going to
different states or differ different countries, if you start to
interact with other people, it opens your mind to a
whole different level, a different world of possibilities. That's why
(02:09):
people should travel, so they can get out of the
same own, same own right and experience new things that
help develop them into better human beings.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Well, you know I like you because I'm a person.
You know, I get caught up in the world, afraid
to lead the work, I might miss out on something.
So that travel, I'm assuming can take that stress away
or and that's why you advise it, or just a
new experience is what you're advising.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I'm just saying, I'm advising it as an experience, okay,
just to make us better human beings. Because the more
you get out and you meet people from different backgrounds
and different cultures, then it's going to help you evolve
as a person. It's going to open your mindset where
you're not going to be limited. So travel a lot
(03:00):
you to do that. You know. My first trip was
the international trip was in nineteen ninety five and I
was a student at Southern University and I went to
study abroad in Haurrari, Zimbabwe. And man, let me tell you,
I had no idea what I was about to experience
(03:22):
and go into. I knew that I had been studying
about Africa. I love Africa and at the time there
was a new president. His name was Nelson Mandela. And
while I couldn't get to South Africa through the program,
the program did take me to neighboring Zimbabway and I
wanted to go, you know. And it was that moment
(03:44):
that really changed my life when I stepped outside of
Louisiana where I grew up, because I came from even
though I grew up in the capital city, Baton Rouge.
My mom and my dad were from a small country
town called Appolusa's Louisiana. And I remember when I went
home and I announced mom that I was going study
abroad in Zimbabwe. Mom said, I don't want you going
(04:05):
to Zimbabwe.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Because they didn't know there was stereotypes. I'm sure was
like throwing fear in them. My daughter going to Africa.
What what the lions and tigers and all these elephants
And I'm sure that I'm sure that's what would put
them in that state, the stereotypes and the lack of knowledge.
And that's what you're talking about telling me why travel
is important, because we need to educate each other and
(04:29):
share the reality stories. Now I'm gonna ask you this,
because you you're black and African American and traveling for you,
do you run into stereotypes of perceptions that people have
about people of color.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I mean sure, you run into some you know, when
I went to live in Europe, I'll never forget. So
I went to work for three years as an expat
in Brussels, Belgium, and I remember, in the process of
looking even for an apartment, I had brought along a
(05:04):
friends who was a black Arab girl because she spoke
several languages, and they spoke French, they spoke Fleinnish. But
I brought her along to kind of help me translate
to get my apartment. And we were having some difficulties
and she told me, she said, Danella, I'm black and
I'm Arab. I got two strikes to go school. Okay,
(05:24):
she said, you at least black when you Americans, she said,
just talking English, they believe Americans got money. You'll you'll
get this apartment, I mean laughed.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
But that's that's you had to ride the stereotype. She said, Look,
I'm really gonna hold you back now. You need to
ride with the black and American and you're gonna be
away for this translation get translated a lot better in
your situation than me actually translated it correctly. That's that,
but that's what we deal with. That's what I've experienced.
I've experienced places I've went. You know, I always tell
(05:57):
my family and I tell my friends that when I
went to Parish, France, if I had to do it
all over again, you know, I'd have graduated from college
and went straight to France because it was just such
the culture was just so eye opening for me. And hey,
I might have because because when it was being French,
you know, the language of French was being offered to
me in high school, I thought, why would I knew France.
(06:20):
I would never go to frant Why would I need
to learn French? And so now I realized that, you know,
my lack of knowledge, my lack of travel, really didn't
let me understand the I could go there and it
probably be the most comfortable place I would ever visit
in my life was Paris.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
France, exactly. And I'll tell you with Sean that, you know,
when I went to study in Zimbabwe and I came
back to so I studied abroad. It was through a
program with Syracuse, but I was a student at Southern
Right and I was in Zimbabwe. The first couple of
friends I met were from Atlanta. You know, they all
went to Spellman, you know, wow, and we just had
(06:58):
this amazing experience of living abroad. But I'll never forget
when I came back and I started interviewing for a job,
and through the course of my career, as I interviewed
for jobs. Now my degree was in broadcast journalism. Right,
there are important interview and I'm thinking people are going
to ask me about my knowledge, my experience. They look
(07:20):
at my resume and see that I lived in Africa
as my career evolved, that I lived in Europe. All
of a sudden, they didn't care about my qualifications for
the job. They wanted to hear about Africa. They wanted
to hear about Europe. And it was those experiences that
made me an intriguing, interesting person who they also knew,
(07:41):
didn't mind change and would take risks. And that's what
got me those jobs.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Wow, now you have a very popular show Danella called
Traveling with Danello. Tell us about that show, and then
we're going to get into the history of how that
show came about. But let's first tell us about what
is Traveling with Danella.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
So Traveling with Danella is a weekly television travel series
and it actually airs in Atlanta on Sundays at twelve
thirty and also five thirty pm the twelve thirty pm
in the afternoons five thirty pm on Sundays on WATL,
and I take our viewers all around the world with me,
(08:23):
you know, interacting in the different cultures, meeting these people
and of different diverse backgrounds and personalities and trying the food.
So I'm kind of like your travel guys that goes,
you know, goes and takes you along on these experiences
with me, so that when you're ready to travel, when
you're ready to book your trip, you already know where
(08:43):
to go, you know, and what to do, and you
can feel safe and secure in doing it. So I'm
the one that goes in, checks it out and lets
you know what it's all about. So they've then you
can then go forward and experience it as well.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That's really amazing that you allow us to report because
a lot of places that we consider you kind of
like kind of like going and be that like the scout,
going to scout the area, scout the good places to aid,
the hotels to stay in, and maybe even the benefits
of the tickets to buy and places to stay. But
it didn't start out like that. You was a very
(09:17):
very successful senior executive. So I want to I want
people to hear what traveling with Danella is. We know
that now tell us about your life as a senior executive.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So I had the pleasure of having an amazing career
working in the travel industry. So I worked for some
of the billion dollar brands. I worked for Hilton Worldwide,
I worked for Norwegian Cruise Line, and I worked for
Carnival Corporations. Right, And it's interesting, you know, my career
has been a combination of television, but then it evolved
(09:50):
into travel because of my love for travel, and really,
you know, working at that level, I had one dream.
I love working in the travel industry, and I look
forward to retiring from the travel industry. But in twenty twenty, right,
I'll never forget. It was March thirteen, twenty twenty, and
we were notified that the cruise industry as a whole
(10:12):
that we were going to have to take a voluntary
pause because of COVID. At nineteen, you know, there weren't
vaccinations and we really didn't know what this thing was,
but we knew that we were going to have to
shut down operations, and originally we thought a week, two weeks.
Then we thought it was going to be a month.
Then all of a sudden, the harsh reality of country
shutting down, borders closing, the world is closing. You know,
(10:35):
we couldn't even go to church, you remember, with COVID
nineteen right right, the harshop, and.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Some people were trapped on cruise ships, if I remember correctly, right.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
They were. We had to get passengers in some cases
from Asia, from South America, really from all all over
the world. That's a whole nother story in itself to
tell you what we had to do to get passengers
back home. But we had to shook completely shut down
global operations, and for over a year we had no
passengers on cruise ships. During that time, I was leading
(11:08):
the team of over forty people. I had a team
that worked at the headquarters, at the corporate headquarters, and
I had a team that worked on board those ships.
And I had to lay off all of those people.
And then no sooner than I laid them off, my
boss came in and he laid me off too. And
as I started feeling sorry for myself, he said, don't
feel sorry for yourself, because I lost my job too. Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Wow, Wow. The whole industry just was just just shut down.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Financially, we shut down, we shut down. And during that
time of lockdown, you know, I was just trying to
figure out what's next, What do I want to do
that's next? You know, I started sniffing and painting, and
then you know, my friends said I was sniffing more
than I was painting. So I had to do something else.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
You don't want to be a drunk painter. That don't
want to be a drunk painter.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Right, exactly exactly. So I got a call from a
friend who had launched a streaming television station, who knew
me from days when you know I used to do
some television things. It was like, look, I got a
new streaming station. I need some content. Why don't you
produce a show.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Just like that? Okay, now, let's slow this down. Now,
somebody just gonna call you up. Okay, you're there sipping
and trying to paint. You're in a state of shock.
We're in the middle of COVID and you can't you
don't have a job, and so somebody calls you an opportunity.
See this. I was slow it down because so many
people at this point in life, when they in a
(12:37):
state of confusion and a state of darkness. They have
no path, the way to success, no plan of action.
But that call came to you. When that call came
to you, what was your plan of action?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(13:13):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
You know when the call came to me, I always
knew I wanted to get back into television. I always
knew I wanted to produce and host my own travel
television show. So I was like, wow, you know the
opportunity is here now. When he originally called, I really didn't,
you know. I was like, I got to think about
this because I don't I even go about doing this.
And I'll tell you the defining moment for Shaon. It
(13:42):
was COVID nineteen. It's two o'clock in the morning. I
ain't got no job, so I'm watching TV and Kelly
Clarkson comes on and she's doing her show remotely you know,
it's kind of like that goom stream format that everybody
was doing during COVID, right. I swear to god, it
looked like she had rolled out of bed and she
needed a brush to her hair. But she does her show,
(14:07):
and I'm like, man, it looks like she's doing that
show from home possibly or wherever. But there weren't studio
audiences during Kobe and right right, and then I can
produce this show right from home. So I just decided,
you know what, we're gonna produce this show. I'm gonna
do this travel show. And then I called this guy
who through the years, you know, I admired, I respected,
(14:31):
And I was like, well, even if I do the show,
what am I gonna call it? And I have all
these little quirky, you know names, because I was like, nah,
he'll he'll tell me, he'll advise me best. So I
called this guy good friend of mine named Rashaan Nick
Dunnan there, like, yeah, I want to do a travel show,
(14:52):
but I don't know what to call it. You know,
here are a few ideas, and he said probably traveling
with Danella's all right, I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
I wasn't that up front. I didn't see it that quick,
did I that.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I'm like, okay, so I guess we're going to call
it traveling.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Welcome back to money making conversations telling the Danella Shad
hosting an award winning show called Traveling with Danella. She
just told everybody how she got the name. She called
me and then I just said college traveling with Dnnell
I gotta go by. And it's led to her traveling
all over this world. In the middle of COVID, she
pursued a dream and I and I. You know the
(15:37):
thing about it is when people call me, I don't just
say things off the top of my head. I see
the talent, and she knows that. I always saw her
not being a corporate exec I always saw her being
on television doing things traveling because she was traveling anyway.
And even in as a senior executive, she was a
great She always spoke at events, She always got awards.
(15:57):
If they needed somebody to receive the award, they always
sent Dannella to receive the award. And so when she
called me, it was like, why are you almost not
saying why you bother me when the obvious is the obvious.
I'm a marketing and branding person. Your name is Danella.
That's a fantastic name. You're traveling, call it traveling with Danella.
(16:19):
And guess what is stuck? And she's been traveling every since? Correct?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
That is it? Traveling all over the world. And Rashan,
I'll tell you another funny story. Now, this was around
nineteen ninety nine, two thousand. So I had been living
and working in Europe and I came back to the
States and you and Steve Harvey were doing his radio show,
(16:45):
and you guys had auditions for the Angels right right.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Right in Los Angeles and Los Angeles. She was a
co host and we called them the Angels. They were
co hosts that we had on the Show's three of them.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
There you go. So I actually the auditioned to be
an Angel.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I don't remember. I would tell you that right now.
I don't remember that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Tell you what was funny. So as Steve is interviewing
me live on the radio to be an Angel, you
know he's asking me, well, you know about my background,
what have I been doing? And you know, I had
been working in travel. I'd been really disconnected from television
and radio, but I still had experience and background in it,
and uh, you know, he asked me to tell him
(17:30):
about some of my travels, and I remember telling him
I had just come back from the South of France
and had been as the French grown Prix, and you know,
she was like, oh my god, you know you kind.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Of bogie right right right right right.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
My life, this is my experience. Well, needless to say,
I had a great time on the radio with him
that day. You know, I got a chance to share
a little bit about me. But lo and beho, you
guys did not pick me, would be.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Julius Big Shirley Nahlaka and I can't take care of less.
She's gonna be mad that I forgot her last name.
But it was three ladies. If we picked, they were
off in the LA area though, so understand why they
were selected. And Shirley was like the veteran voice. And
she's still on the radio show with Steve Harvey today
Shirley Strawberry and doing the Strawberry Letters, which has now
become famous and part of pop pop culture. But you
(18:22):
know the thing about it is that that's interesting how
I don't remember that in nineteen ninety, but I know
exactly the timeline that you were talking about, because we
changed so many lives with that morning show, the Steve
Harry Morning Show. But now you're changing lives with traveling
with Danella. And the thing about it is that you
said that you started this travel show in the middle
of COVID, but you started traveling to different countries doing COVID,
(18:46):
doing your show.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Correct, we did, we did?
Speaker 1 (18:49):
How did you pull that off?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Well? Because I was already known in the industry, because
I was an executive. As borders started opening, I started
getting called from you know, different heads of tourism from
different countries, Sansanela, come bring your film crew. Let people
know they can travel to the Virginian and they can
come to Jamaica, they can come all these places. So
(19:11):
I said, oh my god, if borders are open and
we can travel, then let me get the film crew together.
We're doing more than this zoom stringer show. You know,
we're going to We're we're hitting the road and we're
going to broadcast television. First, Miami WSSL came to the table.
They wanted to show weekly. Then the show went to Seattle, NBC,
King King five and Kong to the show. Then you know, now,
(19:33):
like I said, We're on two times on Sundays on
WATL in Atlanta at twelve thirty and six thirty, and
we're in forty different cities weekly. But yes, when those
borders open, we started getting those calls and Rashwan. Since
twenty twenty, we are now filming season eight. We have
filmed over fifty different shows. That's how much we've been going.
(19:57):
So we have been in the stace Shells, We've been
and Tahiti. We have this, oh my god, all over Europe,
all over the Caribbean this upcoming season as we're filming,
we're getting ready to go to South Korea. We're going
to be filming Niagara Falls in Canada. Fool, so we are.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
You know, there's a Nilla.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It's so inspiring because this was not your you know,
you was ready to retire as a senior executive. That
was your pathway. You know, even though you had the talent,
you had the ability and the dream of doing that.
If this COVID situation would not have happened, and we
know it was not a happy thing that happened for anybody.
(20:40):
Your career as an award winning TV host, a travel
a person who's been vetted as an expert in the industry,
now hosting the show to talk about the various places
that an individual like me can travel to would have
never happened, correct.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
That's correct, that's correct. The best thing that ever happened
to be Covine because it allowed me to release myself
of the corporate shackles. Voluntarily or involuntarily. It happens, right,
and I found myself. You know, I became an entrepreneur.
I wasn't expecting to become an entrepreneur. You know. In
(21:16):
addition to starting the television show, we launched our you know,
production company, Sword Entertainment and Media. And here I am
producing my own shows. I have a business partner, Don Wiggins,
who you also know from the days of radio, who's
also a legend in his own right. And I never
imagine being an entrepreneur, but I wish I would have
(21:38):
did it years and years ago, because.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
You always had the spirit, the independent thought process, so
stepping out of the box, and that's what an entrepreneur does.
They step out of the box. And they realized that
for that our week is traditional. But that doesn't mean
that I'm a traditional thinking person. But you do a
quote that I see a lot on your Instagram, your
TikTok accounts. Is it look back on your life and
(22:02):
say thank god I had the courage to go. What
does that mean?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yes, that simply means, like I told you, Even when
I came home and told my mom, I've been accepted
in the Study Abroad program to go study in Zimbabwe
in nineteen ninety five, you know, and mom was like,
what the heck and why would you want to go
to Africa? Like he said, there were so many stereotypes
(22:27):
around that, and my mom had so much fear of
me going. But I said, Mom, you know, she said,
I don't want you to go to Zimbabwe. I said, Mom,
is zimbob way and I'm going that, you know. And
you know, I look back on my life and I say,
thank god I had the courage to go, you know.
And then when the next opportunity came years later, and
(22:48):
now it was to go and live in Brussels, Belgium
and help launch a travel company there, you know, living
as an expat living in a Flemish speaking community first,
then going to a French speaking community and barely seen,
you know, any other black people. The only of the
black people were Africans that I met in the community,
but certainly actually the one American friend that I met
(23:10):
who became my best friend and she is still my
best friends till today was a Clark Atlanta University, and
I met her in Brussels, Belgium as well.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
But you you just could not get away from HP.
They just everywhere. They're not the spell Atlantic, and you
would clock Atlanta University where we broadcast our show every Tuesday,
and Atlanta is on the campus. W CLK is it's
home station that we broadcast from. And then you have,
of course, you went to Southern University. But as we
(23:40):
wrap up the show, I wanted to ask you this,
why is cruising so popular?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Oh my god, cruising is just so popular because for me,
cruising is easy. I love it because you know, you
get on a ship, you unpack once it becomes your
home for the week or the period that you're on
the ship. And I love waking up in the mornings
and opening those curtains from my balcony and I'm in
a different destination, i am in a different place. You know,
(24:08):
cruising can take you all around the world. It's something
that you kind of have to settle into because people
who cruise one time two times you might not get
the hang of it, but by your third, four or
fifth time and you kind of settle in, then you
start to love it. And there's something I really amaze
myself about with Sean. You know, I worked for some
of the big cruise lines, but once I started doing
(24:29):
the show, we started filming river cruising, some of the
smaller cruise lines. Man, I fell in love with river cruising.
And that's one of my favorite ways to see Europe
is on a river cruise because you know, we pull
into whether it's Amsterdam or Paris, and man, you're able
to just step off that street onto the sidewalk and
keep it moving.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
So I just love it.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Wow. Well, you know, like I said, you know for
an industry, because I've read many articles how the two
of the cruise industry is exploding, and you know, people
launching bigger and bigger ships. You see them on TV
all the time, people swinging off decks. They can they
can they can play golf, play basketball, they can do
They got many circus performers on these. It's really an
(25:13):
amazing experience.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
But the bottom line is seeing your life has become
an amazing experience watching you go from a person I
auditioned for the Steve Harvey Morning Show Angels from nineteen
ninety nine and two thousand to now hosting the award
winning show called Traveling with Danella. Congratulations and thank you
for taking the time to coming on my show. But
(25:36):
more importantly, you understand the value of being an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Thank you so much, Rashaan, I appreciate you always.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you. I'll listening to
the audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
visit Moneymaking Conversations dot com. Our social media handle is
money Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember to
(26:05):
always leave with your gifts. Keep winning. H
Hello, Hello, Hello, this is Rashan mcdonalk. I say hello
one more time. I am here our host this weekly
Money Making Conversation masterclass show. The interviews and information that
this show provides are for everyone. As I tell you
every week, it's time to stop reading other people's success
stories and start living your own. I'm here to help
you reach your American dream. Just listen. Just listen. Listen
(00:23):
to my interviews, Listen to the tips I try to
give you everywhere I say the word try, because you
can give people information. Sometimes they don't want to accept it.
Sometimes they want to ignore it. Find out the hard way.
But if you want to be a guest on my show,
please visit Moneymakingconversation dot com and click the beat a
Guest button and they will information be submitted to you
and I will screen you and hopefully you submit the
(00:45):
information that's I feel fit to the show, and I
bring you on the show. It's a guest. It's just
that easy. My guest is ready to come on the show.
It is a well known traveler, travel expert and industry
leader and host the award winning travel show Travel with Danella.
She has held senior positions at major travel companies including
Hilton Worldwide, Carnival Corporation, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. Originally
(01:11):
from South Louisiana, she describes describes herself as travel enthusiasts
all this wildlife wine lover. Her mission is to inspire
people to travel, experience different cultures, and embrace our shared humanity. Please,
welcome to the Money Making Conversations Masterclass, Danella, Rashad. How
you doing, Danella?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I am wonderful.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Rashaan, Hello, Hello, Hello, I got all that senior level
positions at major Why why why should somebody I'm as
you off the pro Why should somebody travel? What is
the what are the benefits of traveling?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
My god? The number one benefit to travel is breaking
down cultural barriers. You know, just get it out of
the same old, same old, Because when you get out
and you start to travel, and whether you're going to
different states or differ different countries, if you start to
interact with other people, it opens your mind to a
whole different level, a different world of possibilities. That's why
(02:09):
people should travel, so they can get out of the
same own, same own right and experience new things that
help develop them into better human beings.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Well, you know I like you because I'm a person.
You know, I get caught up in the world, afraid
to lead the work, I might miss out on something.
So that travel, I'm assuming can take that stress away
or and that's why you advise it, or just a
new experience is what you're advising.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I'm just saying, I'm advising it as an experience, okay,
just to make us better human beings. Because the more
you get out and you meet people from different backgrounds
and different cultures, then it's going to help you evolve
as a person. It's going to open your mindset where
you're not going to be limited. So travel a lot
(03:00):
you to do that. You know. My first trip was
the international trip was in nineteen ninety five and I
was a student at Southern University and I went to
study abroad in Haurrari, Zimbabwe. And man, let me tell you,
I had no idea what I was about to experience
(03:22):
and go into. I knew that I had been studying
about Africa. I love Africa and at the time there
was a new president. His name was Nelson Mandela. And
while I couldn't get to South Africa through the program,
the program did take me to neighboring Zimbabway and I
wanted to go, you know. And it was that moment
(03:44):
that really changed my life when I stepped outside of
Louisiana where I grew up, because I came from even
though I grew up in the capital city, Baton Rouge.
My mom and my dad were from a small country
town called Appolusa's Louisiana. And I remember when I went
home and I announced mom that I was going study
abroad in Zimbabwe. Mom said, I don't want you going
(04:05):
to Zimbabwe.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Because they didn't know there was stereotypes. I'm sure was
like throwing fear in them. My daughter going to Africa.
What what the lions and tigers and all these elephants
And I'm sure that I'm sure that's what would put
them in that state, the stereotypes and the lack of knowledge.
And that's what you're talking about telling me why travel
is important, because we need to educate each other and
(04:29):
share the reality stories. Now I'm gonna ask you this,
because you you're black and African American and traveling for you,
do you run into stereotypes of perceptions that people have
about people of color.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I mean sure, you run into some you know, when
I went to live in Europe, I'll never forget. So
I went to work for three years as an expat
in Brussels, Belgium, and I remember, in the process of
looking even for an apartment, I had brought along a
(05:04):
friends who was a black Arab girl because she spoke
several languages, and they spoke French, they spoke Fleinnish. But
I brought her along to kind of help me translate
to get my apartment. And we were having some difficulties
and she told me, she said, Danella, I'm black and
I'm Arab. I got two strikes to go school. Okay,
(05:24):
she said, you at least black when you Americans, she said,
just talking English, they believe Americans got money. You'll you'll
get this apartment, I mean laughed.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
But that's that's you had to ride the stereotype. She said, Look,
I'm really gonna hold you back now. You need to
ride with the black and American and you're gonna be
away for this translation get translated a lot better in
your situation than me actually translated it correctly. That's that,
but that's what we deal with. That's what I've experienced.
I've experienced places I've went. You know, I always tell
(05:57):
my family and I tell my friends that when I
went to Parish, France, if I had to do it
all over again, you know, I'd have graduated from college
and went straight to France because it was just such
the culture was just so eye opening for me. And hey,
I might have because because when it was being French,
you know, the language of French was being offered to
me in high school, I thought, why would I knew France.
(06:20):
I would never go to frant Why would I need
to learn French? And so now I realized that, you know,
my lack of knowledge, my lack of travel, really didn't
let me understand the I could go there and it
probably be the most comfortable place I would ever visit
in my life was Paris.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
France, exactly. And I'll tell you with Sean that, you know,
when I went to study in Zimbabwe and I came
back to so I studied abroad. It was through a
program with Syracuse, but I was a student at Southern
Right and I was in Zimbabwe. The first couple of
friends I met were from Atlanta. You know, they all
went to Spellman, you know, wow, and we just had
(06:58):
this amazing experience of living abroad. But I'll never forget
when I came back and I started interviewing for a job,
and through the course of my career, as I interviewed
for jobs. Now my degree was in broadcast journalism. Right,
there are important interview and I'm thinking people are going
to ask me about my knowledge, my experience. They look
(07:20):
at my resume and see that I lived in Africa
as my career evolved, that I lived in Europe. All
of a sudden, they didn't care about my qualifications for
the job. They wanted to hear about Africa. They wanted
to hear about Europe. And it was those experiences that
made me an intriguing, interesting person who they also knew,
(07:41):
didn't mind change and would take risks. And that's what
got me those jobs.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Wow, now you have a very popular show Danella called
Traveling with Danello. Tell us about that show, and then
we're going to get into the history of how that
show came about. But let's first tell us about what
is Traveling with Danella.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
So Traveling with Danella is a weekly television travel series
and it actually airs in Atlanta on Sundays at twelve
thirty and also five thirty pm the twelve thirty pm
in the afternoons five thirty pm on Sundays on WATL,
and I take our viewers all around the world with me,
(08:23):
you know, interacting in the different cultures, meeting these people
and of different diverse backgrounds and personalities and trying the food.
So I'm kind of like your travel guys that goes,
you know, goes and takes you along on these experiences
with me, so that when you're ready to travel, when
you're ready to book your trip, you already know where
(08:43):
to go, you know, and what to do, and you
can feel safe and secure in doing it. So I'm
the one that goes in, checks it out and lets
you know what it's all about. So they've then you
can then go forward and experience it as well.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That's really amazing that you allow us to report because
a lot of places that we consider you kind of
like kind of like going and be that like the scout,
going to scout the area, scout the good places to aid,
the hotels to stay in, and maybe even the benefits
of the tickets to buy and places to stay. But
it didn't start out like that. You was a very
(09:17):
very successful senior executive. So I want to I want
people to hear what traveling with Danella is. We know
that now tell us about your life as a senior executive.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
So I had the pleasure of having an amazing career
working in the travel industry. So I worked for some
of the billion dollar brands. I worked for Hilton Worldwide,
I worked for Norwegian Cruise Line, and I worked for
Carnival Corporations. Right, And it's interesting, you know, my career
has been a combination of television, but then it evolved
(09:50):
into travel because of my love for travel, and really,
you know, working at that level, I had one dream.
I love working in the travel industry, and I look
forward to retiring from the travel industry. But in twenty twenty, right,
I'll never forget. It was March thirteen, twenty twenty, and
we were notified that the cruise industry as a whole
(10:12):
that we were going to have to take a voluntary
pause because of COVID. At nineteen, you know, there weren't
vaccinations and we really didn't know what this thing was,
but we knew that we were going to have to
shut down operations, and originally we thought a week, two weeks.
Then we thought it was going to be a month.
Then all of a sudden, the harsh reality of country
shutting down, borders closing, the world is closing. You know,
(10:35):
we couldn't even go to church, you remember, with COVID
nineteen right right, the harshop, and.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Some people were trapped on cruise ships, if I remember correctly, right.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
They were. We had to get passengers in some cases
from Asia, from South America, really from all all over
the world. That's a whole nother story in itself to
tell you what we had to do to get passengers
back home. But we had to shook completely shut down
global operations, and for over a year we had no
passengers on cruise ships. During that time, I was leading
(11:08):
the team of over forty people. I had a team
that worked at the headquarters, at the corporate headquarters, and
I had a team that worked on board those ships.
And I had to lay off all of those people.
And then no sooner than I laid them off, my
boss came in and he laid me off too. And
as I started feeling sorry for myself, he said, don't
feel sorry for yourself, because I lost my job too. Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Wow, Wow. The whole industry just was just just shut down.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Financially, we shut down, we shut down. And during that
time of lockdown, you know, I was just trying to
figure out what's next, What do I want to do
that's next? You know, I started sniffing and painting, and
then you know, my friends said I was sniffing more
than I was painting. So I had to do something else.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
You don't want to be a drunk painter. That don't
want to be a drunk painter.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Right, exactly exactly. So I got a call from a
friend who had launched a streaming television station, who knew
me from days when you know I used to do
some television things. It was like, look, I got a
new streaming station. I need some content. Why don't you
produce a show.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Just like that? Okay, now, let's slow this down. Now,
somebody just gonna call you up. Okay, you're there sipping
and trying to paint. You're in a state of shock.
We're in the middle of COVID and you can't you
don't have a job, and so somebody calls you an opportunity.
See this. I was slow it down because so many
people at this point in life, when they in a
(12:37):
state of confusion and a state of darkness. They have
no path, the way to success, no plan of action.
But that call came to you. When that call came
to you, what was your plan of action?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(13:13):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
You know when the call came to me, I always
knew I wanted to get back into television. I always
knew I wanted to produce and host my own travel
television show. So I was like, wow, you know the
opportunity is here now. When he originally called, I really didn't,
you know. I was like, I got to think about
this because I don't I even go about doing this.
And I'll tell you the defining moment for Shaon. It
(13:42):
was COVID nineteen. It's two o'clock in the morning. I
ain't got no job, so I'm watching TV and Kelly
Clarkson comes on and she's doing her show remotely you know,
it's kind of like that goom stream format that everybody
was doing during COVID, right. I swear to god, it
looked like she had rolled out of bed and she
needed a brush to her hair. But she does her show,
(14:07):
and I'm like, man, it looks like she's doing that
show from home possibly or wherever. But there weren't studio
audiences during Kobe and right right, and then I can
produce this show right from home. So I just decided,
you know what, we're gonna produce this show. I'm gonna
do this travel show. And then I called this guy
who through the years, you know, I admired, I respected,
(14:31):
And I was like, well, even if I do the show,
what am I gonna call it? And I have all
these little quirky, you know names, because I was like, nah,
he'll he'll tell me, he'll advise me best. So I
called this guy good friend of mine named Rashaan Nick
Dunnan there, like, yeah, I want to do a travel show,
(14:52):
but I don't know what to call it. You know,
here are a few ideas, and he said probably traveling
with Danella's all right, I gotta go.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
I wasn't that up front. I didn't see it that quick,
did I that.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I'm like, okay, so I guess we're going to call
it traveling.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Welcome back to money making conversations telling the Danella Shad
hosting an award winning show called Traveling with Danella. She
just told everybody how she got the name. She called
me and then I just said college traveling with Dnnell
I gotta go by. And it's led to her traveling
all over this world. In the middle of COVID, she
pursued a dream and I and I. You know the
(15:37):
thing about it is when people call me, I don't just
say things off the top of my head. I see
the talent, and she knows that. I always saw her
not being a corporate exec I always saw her being
on television doing things traveling because she was traveling anyway.
And even in as a senior executive, she was a
great She always spoke at events, She always got awards.
(15:57):
If they needed somebody to receive the award, they always
sent Dannella to receive the award. And so when she
called me, it was like, why are you almost not
saying why you bother me when the obvious is the obvious.
I'm a marketing and branding person. Your name is Danella.
That's a fantastic name. You're traveling, call it traveling with Danella.
(16:19):
And guess what is stuck? And she's been traveling every since? Correct?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
That is it? Traveling all over the world. And Rashan,
I'll tell you another funny story. Now, this was around
nineteen ninety nine, two thousand. So I had been living
and working in Europe and I came back to the
States and you and Steve Harvey were doing his radio show,
(16:45):
and you guys had auditions for the Angels right right.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Right in Los Angeles and Los Angeles. She was a
co host and we called them the Angels. They were
co hosts that we had on the Show's three of them.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
There you go. So I actually the auditioned to be
an Angel.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I don't remember. I would tell you that right now.
I don't remember that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Tell you what was funny. So as Steve is interviewing
me live on the radio to be an Angel, you
know he's asking me, well, you know about my background,
what have I been doing? And you know, I had
been working in travel. I'd been really disconnected from television
and radio, but I still had experience and background in it,
and uh, you know, he asked me to tell him
(17:30):
about some of my travels, and I remember telling him
I had just come back from the South of France
and had been as the French grown Prix, and you know,
she was like, oh my god, you know you kind.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Of bogie right right right right right.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
My life, this is my experience. Well, needless to say,
I had a great time on the radio with him
that day. You know, I got a chance to share
a little bit about me. But lo and beho, you
guys did not pick me, would be.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Julius Big Shirley Nahlaka and I can't take care of less.
She's gonna be mad that I forgot her last name.
But it was three ladies. If we picked, they were
off in the LA area though, so understand why they
were selected. And Shirley was like the veteran voice. And
she's still on the radio show with Steve Harvey today
Shirley Strawberry and doing the Strawberry Letters, which has now
become famous and part of pop pop culture. But you
(18:22):
know the thing about it is that that's interesting how
I don't remember that in nineteen ninety, but I know
exactly the timeline that you were talking about, because we
changed so many lives with that morning show, the Steve
Harry Morning Show. But now you're changing lives with traveling
with Danella. And the thing about it is that you
said that you started this travel show in the middle
of COVID, but you started traveling to different countries doing COVID,
(18:46):
doing your show.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Correct, we did, we did?
Speaker 1 (18:49):
How did you pull that off?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Well? Because I was already known in the industry, because
I was an executive. As borders started opening, I started
getting called from you know, different heads of tourism from
different countries, Sansanela, come bring your film crew. Let people
know they can travel to the Virginian and they can
come to Jamaica, they can come all these places. So
(19:11):
I said, oh my god, if borders are open and
we can travel, then let me get the film crew together.
We're doing more than this zoom stringer show. You know,
we're going to We're we're hitting the road and we're
going to broadcast television. First, Miami WSSL came to the table.
They wanted to show weekly. Then the show went to Seattle, NBC,
King King five and Kong to the show. Then you know, now,
(19:33):
like I said, We're on two times on Sundays on
WATL in Atlanta at twelve thirty and six thirty, and
we're in forty different cities weekly. But yes, when those
borders open, we started getting those calls and Rashwan. Since
twenty twenty, we are now filming season eight. We have
filmed over fifty different shows. That's how much we've been going.
(19:57):
So we have been in the stace Shells, We've been
and Tahiti. We have this, oh my god, all over Europe,
all over the Caribbean this upcoming season as we're filming,
we're getting ready to go to South Korea. We're going
to be filming Niagara Falls in Canada. Fool, so we are.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
You know, there's a Nilla.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It's so inspiring because this was not your you know,
you was ready to retire as a senior executive. That
was your pathway. You know, even though you had the talent,
you had the ability and the dream of doing that.
If this COVID situation would not have happened, and we
know it was not a happy thing that happened for anybody.
(20:40):
Your career as an award winning TV host, a travel
a person who's been vetted as an expert in the industry,
now hosting the show to talk about the various places
that an individual like me can travel to would have
never happened, correct.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
That's correct, that's correct. The best thing that ever happened
to be Covine because it allowed me to release myself
of the corporate shackles. Voluntarily or involuntarily. It happens, right,
and I found myself. You know, I became an entrepreneur.
I wasn't expecting to become an entrepreneur. You know. In
(21:16):
addition to starting the television show, we launched our you know,
production company, Sword Entertainment and Media. And here I am
producing my own shows. I have a business partner, Don Wiggins,
who you also know from the days of radio, who's
also a legend in his own right. And I never
imagine being an entrepreneur, but I wish I would have
(21:38):
did it years and years ago, because.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
You always had the spirit, the independent thought process, so
stepping out of the box, and that's what an entrepreneur does.
They step out of the box. And they realized that
for that our week is traditional. But that doesn't mean
that I'm a traditional thinking person. But you do a
quote that I see a lot on your Instagram, your
TikTok accounts. Is it look back on your life and
(22:02):
say thank god I had the courage to go. What
does that mean?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yes, that simply means, like I told you, Even when
I came home and told my mom, I've been accepted
in the Study Abroad program to go study in Zimbabwe
in nineteen ninety five, you know, and mom was like,
what the heck and why would you want to go
to Africa? Like he said, there were so many stereotypes
(22:27):
around that, and my mom had so much fear of
me going. But I said, Mom, you know, she said,
I don't want you to go to Zimbabwe. I said, Mom,
is zimbob way and I'm going that, you know. And
you know, I look back on my life and I say,
thank god I had the courage to go, you know.
And then when the next opportunity came years later, and
(22:48):
now it was to go and live in Brussels, Belgium
and help launch a travel company there, you know, living
as an expat living in a Flemish speaking community first,
then going to a French speaking community and barely seen,
you know, any other black people. The only of the
black people were Africans that I met in the community,
but certainly actually the one American friend that I met
(23:10):
who became my best friend and she is still my
best friends till today was a Clark Atlanta University, and
I met her in Brussels, Belgium as well.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
But you you just could not get away from HP.
They just everywhere. They're not the spell Atlantic, and you
would clock Atlanta University where we broadcast our show every Tuesday,
and Atlanta is on the campus. W CLK is it's
home station that we broadcast from. And then you have,
of course, you went to Southern University. But as we
(23:40):
wrap up the show, I wanted to ask you this,
why is cruising so popular?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Oh my god, cruising is just so popular because for me,
cruising is easy. I love it because you know, you
get on a ship, you unpack once it becomes your
home for the week or the period that you're on
the ship. And I love waking up in the mornings
and opening those curtains from my balcony and I'm in
a different destination, i am in a different place. You know,
(24:08):
cruising can take you all around the world. It's something
that you kind of have to settle into because people
who cruise one time two times you might not get
the hang of it, but by your third, four or
fifth time and you kind of settle in, then you
start to love it. And there's something I really amaze
myself about with Sean. You know, I worked for some
of the big cruise lines, but once I started doing
(24:29):
the show, we started filming river cruising, some of the
smaller cruise lines. Man, I fell in love with river cruising.
And that's one of my favorite ways to see Europe
is on a river cruise because you know, we pull
into whether it's Amsterdam or Paris, and man, you're able
to just step off that street onto the sidewalk and
keep it moving.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
So I just love it.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Wow. Well, you know, like I said, you know for
an industry, because I've read many articles how the two
of the cruise industry is exploding, and you know, people
launching bigger and bigger ships. You see them on TV
all the time, people swinging off decks. They can they
can they can play golf, play basketball, they can do
They got many circus performers on these. It's really an
(25:13):
amazing experience.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Now.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
But the bottom line is seeing your life has become
an amazing experience watching you go from a person I
auditioned for the Steve Harvey Morning Show Angels from nineteen
ninety nine and two thousand to now hosting the award
winning show called Traveling with Danella. Congratulations and thank you
for taking the time to coming on my show. But
(25:36):
more importantly, you understand the value of being an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Thank you so much, Rashaan, I appreciate you always.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rashawn McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you. I'll listening to
the audience now. If you want to listen to any
episode I want to be a guest on the show,
visit Moneymaking Conversations dot com. Our social media handle is
money Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember to
(26:05):
always leave with your gifts. Keep winning. H
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